Gutenberg 6.5, Version That Will Be in WordPress 5.3 is Out

Gutenberg team just released version 6.5 of the new WordPress block editor today. This is a big release, and it will be the release to be merged into the WordPress 5.3 core.

The block editor version in WordPress core has always been a couple of releases behind of Gutenberg plugin version. That is to test out new features of the block editor and then merge the best of it to the core in a new major WordPress release.

What’s New with Gutenberg 6.5?

This release introduces the social links block and exciting experimental features to the block editor, such as the navigation block and the block directory.

Gutenberg plugin version 6.0 introduced a click-through selection of parent blocks when they have other blocks in them. While this was a nifty feature, also came in with its own UX issues for troubled inner block selection.

Button Block custom Border Radius Setting

The button block now gets a custom border-radius value setting so that you can set if the button will have corner radiuses or turn into a pill-shaped button.

Need more than just those and have more freedom? Well, you always have Kioken Blocks’ fantastic Fancy Buttons block 🙂

Social Links Block

You can now add your social profile links into a post or page with the Social Links block. I found the usability of this block a bit awkward. The reason is, the icons are hidden or displayed on select. Turns out they only show up if you enter URLs for each icon/social profile.

Gallery Captions

You can now directly enter captions for each image in the Gallery block.

The Block Directory and Navigation Block

This was a big feature that has been on Gutenberg’s roadmap for a while, and now it is available as an experimental feature. To enable block directory, you need to browse through your WP Admin > Gutenberg > Experiments and enable the Enable Block Directory search option:

After that, whenever you click on add a new block button, you can search for blocks that don’t exist on your WordPress site yet.

Block directory allows instantly install and use a block you find. It works like searching for plugins in the plugin directory. When you add a new block from the directory, you can also access it from the plugins section in the WP Admin.

We are also working on porting some of the Kioken Blocks to the block directory. The benefit of the block directory is you only install the blocks you need.

One other experimental feature is the Navigation Menu block, which allows you to add nav menus to anywhere in your post or page. While it doesn’t look like practical yet, it is a very promising feature in Gutenberg and I believe this block will evolve over time.

When will Gutenberg 6.5 be in the WordPress core?

WordPress 5.3 target release date is 12 November 2019. The plugin version will continue to evolve and get new features but we won’t see it in the next WordPress core after 5.3, until a new major WordPress version.

Here’s the schedule for WordPress 5.3:

Author Onur Oztaskiran

Hi there! I'm Onuro, the author of Kioken Blocks. I am a 15+ years experienced designer turned developer. In the past I've been the design lead of large-scale startups such as @Udemy, @Wadi and @Qordoba. Oh and I love WordPress!